1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a system and method for waking up a vehicle module in response to communication activity.
2. Background Art
Communication protocol controllers generally act as an interface between a communication protocol enabled device and a main controller. However, a main controller may be required to initialize and synchronize with the communication protocol controller before communication between the main controller and the communication protocol enabled device is supported. The initialization/synchronization process generally ensures that the control parameters of each controller are in agreement such that communication between the controllers is properly enabled. A conventional initialization/synchronization process may, however, cause the communication protocol controller to lose pre-existing communication links with communication protocol enabled devices.
The synchronization requirement has been particularly problematic when attempting to interface motor vehicle controllers with Bluetooth enabled devices. In conventional approaches, the main controller of a motor vehicle is kept in a deep sleep mode (i.e., a low power state) when the vehicle is not in operation. Putting the main controller into a deep sleep has the advantage of minimizing the main controller power consumption such that the vehicle battery charge may be maintained at an acceptable level. However, in the deep sleep state the main controller is unable to communicate with the Bluetooth controller. As such, the conventional main controller must initialize and synchronize with the Bluetooth controller upon power up (i.e., when the main controller exits the deep sleep mode and returns to an operational state). In conventional approaches, the initialization/synchronization process causes the Bluetooth controller to lose all prior established communication links with Bluetooth enabled devices. The loss of the pre-existing communication links is generally undesirable.
Thus, it would be desirable to have a system and method for enabling communication between a main controller and a communication protocol controller that overcomes the deficiencies of conventional approaches.